Busting out at Brainerd

This is another installment in the Watercross Series. To read the other articles in this series, please check out the category: Watercross 2017 Season.

This past weekend, June 10th and 11th, we joined Team Yard Ape in Brainerd, Minnesota at Brainerd International Raceway (BIR). This weekend was full of "F's". There were a lot of "F-it's", but there were also firsts and finals.

Let's start with the "F-it's", for many of the Apes the sleds were not cooperating. #127 Rocky Vowles made it off the line but sunk shortly thereafter and scratched for the remainder of the weekend. #223 Aaron Vowles

battled his sled the whole weekend and finally started getting it tuned in. #813 Aaron Godeen's sled ended up on sidelines as well. #18 Adam Vowles was hit while racing, but his sled was not damaged badly. Adam struggled with staying afloat though and it made for an interesting weekend despite heading into the finals successfully. #120 Korey 'KJ' Johnson had his bouts with his sled in the qualifying rounds of the weekend and despite finally honing in on his mechanical issues he wasn't able to qualify for finals. #128 Jacob Champa also struggled to keep his sled in working condition sinking once and having to end the race early and pull off the course another time. #411 Salesse Tongen's engine was rebuilt overnight and ran into issues in the Finals of the 800 Drag class.

Despite the "F-it's", this weekend was a weekend of firsts for a few of our Apes. #913 Court Klaphake took her very first run on a sled and had an amazing start to her rookie season; Court battled the competition and finished 2nd in the 600 drag class this weekend. In addition to her rookie start, we also had several others out for their first full-time season including KJ Johnson, Corey Huls, Cory Kostreba, and Emma Godeen. Emma had a momentous weekend at B.I.R as she took first in the 600 Drag Class this weekend.

Our apes worked hard and raced even harder and for some of them, the work paid off. Racers like Ian VanVickle, Ben Eastman, and Corey Huls all finished in the finals. Ian took home hardware and finished his weekend completely dry, having never sunk his sled once.

Stay tuned as we follow the Yard Ape Crew to Menomonie, WI in the coming weeks!

Also check out and follow our fellow photographer Taryn on her Facebook Page Elephant Tip Toes Photography to see the races she is capturing.